Late rally falls short in 5-3 loss to Aztecs

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – TJ Fondtain tossed seven stellar innings on Friday night at Santa Ana Star Field, lifting visiting San Diego State to a 5-3 Mountain West win over host New Mexico in the first of three games between the teams.

The Lobos came to life with three solo home runs in the final two innings, and got the tying run to the plate with no outs in the ninth. But the deficit proved too large to overcome as SDSU’s Kelena Sauer collected his fourth save of the season. San Diego State improved to 8-13 on the year and 5-3 in conference play, while UNM snapped a three-game winning streak falling to 15-9 overall and 5-4 in league games.

Dylan Ditzenberger extended his reached base streak to 37 games and hitting streak to 19 games with a home run in the bottom of the eighth, which came after Deylan Pigford’s solo home run to finally get the Lobos on the board. They trailed 5-0 up to that point, with SDSU striking for a run in the third and adding two each in the fifth and eighth.

Lenny Junior Ashby led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run that hugged the right-field foul pole, and Braydon Runion followed with a single to put the tying run in the batter’s box. Sauer bore down however, using a strikeout, a routine popup, and a twirling diving catch by shortstop Xavier Gonzalez on a wind-impacted popup into center field to end the game.

Ashby and Pigford each went 2-for-4 in the game, with UNM managing just seven hits against a trio of Aztec arms. Lobo starter Riley Egloff turned in a strong performance of his own, allowing three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and just one walk in seven solid innings of work. Terrell Hudson allowed just one walk in 1 2/3 shutout innings to finish the game on the mound for UNM.

Egloff started the game with a strikeout, and Devon Dixon flashed the leather early with a diving play in shallow right field to take away a base hit from Shaun Montoya. Egloff cruised through a quick first two frames, striking out four of the first seven hitters he faced.

Fondtain was similarly impressive early on, retiring the first 14 hitters he faced to match Egloff’s zeroes. Perhaps the biggest assist for the Aztec lefty came from a noticeable wind, which knocked down a mighty fly ball off the bat of slugger Jake Holland that carried to the warning track in left field in the bottom of the second.

Caden Miller broke the dry spell for SDSU in the top of the third, turning around on an inside pitch and crushing a ball with the wind well over the fence in right field to make the score 1-0. The Aztecs tacked on two more in the top of the fifth, using doubles by Drew Giannini and Cade Martinez, and a single by Miller to jump ahead 3-0.

Holland had the first hit of the game for UNM with a two-out single in the fifth, breaking up Fondtain’s 4 2/3 perfect innings to start the ballgame. An ensuing double off the bat of Pigford brought the tying run to the plate, but Fondtain got out of the jam with his seventh strikeout on a 3-2 pitch to Dixon.

The defense continued to shine for the Lobos in the top of the sixth, with Weissenborn leaping to snag a sharp line drive off the bat of Poncho Ruiz, and Ditzenberger ending the inning with a throw on the run to narrowly nab Giannini on a slow roller down the third base line.

Miller had one of the Aztecs’ top defensive plays to end the bottom of the sixth inning, racing in on a ball deflected by Fondtain and throwing across his body just in time to get Jeffrey David at first base.

Fondtain allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts in his seven-plus innings of work. Eldridge Armstrong bridged the gap with one run allowed in his inning, before handing the ball off to Sauer. Miller led the Aztecs at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Ruiz and Gonzalez had two hits apiece, as SDSU managed 10 knocks and stranded six runners in the series-opening win.

LOBO NOTES: UNM is now 84-127 all-time against SDSU and is 43-47 in games played in Albuquerque…Friday gave Pigford a home run in consecutive games for the third time in his collegiate career…the fifth-year senior achieved the feat in 2019 and 2020 during his career at Midland College…Pigford upped his career home run total to 16…Ditzenberger’s home run was the sixth of his career and his second of the season…Ashby’s home run was the 35th of his collegiate career, his 20th as a Lobo, and his third of the season…Ashby’s double in the seventh inning was the 50th of his collegiate career…there was an injury delay of 23 minutes with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, when the home plate umpire was injured by a wild pitch that struck his facemask…SDSU manager Mark Martinez was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing with the first base umpire.

NEXT UP: The series continues Saturday with a 2 p.m. first pitch at Santa Ana Star Field.